The Galleon Finally Has a Name

For as long as anyone in San Pedro can remember, the wreck lying in six metres of water off Las Bóvedas has simply been called El Galeón. The galleon. No name, no certain story. Divers told each other she was French, burned and scuttled around 1704 to keep her out of English hands. Others argued she was Spanish. A silver coin found on the site a few years ago only deepened the mystery.

Foto: IAPH — Centro de Arqueología Subacuática / Junta de Andalucía

On 1 July 2026, the mystery ended. After three years of investigation, underwater archaeologists from the Junta de Andalucía’s heritage institute announced that the wreck is almost certainly the Fernando — a ship of the line of the Spanish Royal Navy.

The Fernando was built in Ferrol, on Spain’s Atlantic coast, in 1750–51. She was one of only four experimental warships commissioned as Spain modernised its navy in the mid-1700s. In 1760, caught in a storm off this coast, she lost her rudder and grounded near Las Bóvedas — where she has rested ever since.

The archaeologists matched the wreck to the historical record piece by piece: the location, the hull dimensions, the dense oak framing typical of mid-century Spanish shipbuilding, cannons cast before 1765, and the sternpost ironwork that tells the story of that failed rudder. More than 3,000 photographs went into a full 3D model of the site.

Foto: IAPH — Centro de Arqueología Subacuática / Junta de Andalucía

What does this mean if you dive with us? The same wreck, with a far better story. At six metres deep, El Galeón — we suspect the old name will stick — is calm, bright and open, which makes her ideal for newly certified divers and first-timers on a Discover Scuba experience. You’ll swim over cannons and ship’s timbers that have been on that seabed since before Nelson went to sea. Look all you like; take nothing. Every button and buckle down there is protected heritage, and it stays where it lies.

Foto: José A. Moya / IAPH — Centro de Arqueología Subacuática

We run diving trips to El Galeón and the coast’s other sites from Marbella’s port, in partnership with a local PADI centre. If you’d like to see the Fernando for yourself, get in touch and we’ll plan it around the day’s conditions.

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